Exp Mol Med.  2013 May;45(5):e21.

Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome: intellectual disability due to loss of TCF4-regulated gene transcription

• Sweatt JD

Abstract

TCF4 (transcription factor 4; E2-2, ITF2) is a transcription factor that when haplo-insufficient causes Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome (PTHS), an autism-spectrum disorder that is associated with pervasive developmental delay and severe intellectual disability. The TCF4 gene is also a risk factor with highly significant linkage to schizophrenia, presumably via overexpression of the TCF4 gene product in the central nervous system. This review will present an overview of the clinical manifestations of PTHS and relate those clinical attributes to the underlying molecular genetics of TCF4. In order to provide a molecular biological context for the loss of function of TCF4 in PTHS, the review will also present a brief overview of the basic biochemistry of TCF4-mediated regulation of cellular and neuronal gene expression. In the final section of this review, I will discuss and speculate upon possible roles for the TCF4 transcription factor in neuronal function and comment upon how understanding these roles may give new insights into the molecular neurobiology of human cognition.

Keyword

autism; epigenetics; learning; language cognition; memory; Pitt-Hopkins Syndrome; TCF4

MeSH Terms

Animals
Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors/genetics/*metabolism
Disease Models, Animal
Facies
Humans
Hyperventilation/diagnosis/*genetics/pathology
Intellectual Disability/diagnosis/*genetics/pathology
Neurons/metabolism/pathology
*Transcription, Genetic
Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors